After falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a four game sweep, the Los Angeles Lakers season is officially over. Now, a highly consequential awaits them as they get their first real chance to chisel a roster with Luka Dončić as the unquestioned centerpiece.

To do this, a great deal of roster turnover is needed, meaning that old friends will have to exit for new faces to enter the foray. With this fact of basketball life in mind, here are five players who likely will not be donning the illustrious Purple and Gold next season.

1. LeBron James

LeBron James was absolutely fantastic this postseason, putting together by far and away the greatest playoff run by a 40+ year old in NBA history. However, the Lakers need to get younger and James’ playstyle (particularly on offense) conflicts too much with Dončić to maximize the team’s lineup balance.

On the flip side, James has been at it for 23 years now. If he does want to come back, he’s smart enough to know that the Lakers can’t pay him a reasonable salary, play him big minutes, retain Austin Reaves, and build a true championship level team around him, his favorite white dude, and Dončić. If James decides to play his 24th season, he’ll want to be on a team that can win a championship with him at the forefront of their success.

2. Deandre Ayton

Despite him having a player option on his contract, Deandre Ayton is the player I feel the most confident about finding a new team next season. For awhile, I thought the Ayton/Lakers marriage was working out perfectly. Ayton did an excellent job defending Alperen Sengün in the team’s first round series victory over the Houston Rockets.

However, it looks like things weren’t going as smoothly behind the scenes. Head coach JJ Redick had been growing frustrated with Ayton’s inconsistencies, leading to this viral clip:

Redick responded by only playing Ayton 21 minutes in Game 4 — his lowest minute total of the series. For the series, Ayton played 6.5 minutes less per game (24.5) than he did in Round One (31.0).

Ayton may not care that his odds at starting next season aren’t great and cash in on the guaranteed paycheck. However, he also could read the tealeaves and get out of Los Angeles while he can still decide his next destination.

3. Dalton Knecht

This one is another easy one. After a hot start to his career, Dalton Knecht has not been able to knock down threes at the rate his reputation as a shooter would lead one to expect (34.2% from three this season). And if he’s not hitting those shots, he doesn’t have much utility elsewhere. As a result, Knecht’s Year Two minutes were nearly cut in half from his rookie season.

If this wasn’t enough, the Lakers traded for a better version of Knecht in Luke Kennard at the trade deadline. With Kennard set to become an unrestricted free agent, the Lakers need to find a way to re-sign him, which may mean dumping Knecht to make some extra space for the lefty shooter’s salary.

4. Jaxson Hayes

The Lakers really didn’t get much out of the center spot this year. Jaxson Hayes wasn’t terrible this year (51st percentile in Estimated Plus-Minus, per Dunks & Threes), and the Lakers were actually better with him on the floor than Ayton.

But the Lakers’ biggest need this offseason projects to be at the five spot. They need to find a rim-protecting, rim-running center who can anchor the paint while also hammering home all of Dončić’s lobs. They already know Hayes isn’t the answer to that riddle. So, why waste resources trying to bring him back.

5. Marcus Smart

After looking like he was dead in the water, Marcus Smart turned in a resurgent 2025-26 campaign, earning himself a spotlight in our unofficial Comeback Player of the Year race. Smart’s ability to provide value on both sides of the ball made him an integral part of Los Angeles’ best lineups. According to Cleaning the Glass, no player on the Lakers had a better on-off point differential than the former DPOY (plus-8.9 per 100 possessions).

Smart not coming back won’t be because the Lakers don’t want him. It’s because they probably can’t afford him. Smart has a player option, but given how well he played this year, it is likely he and his representation will seek one last strong payday. The Lakers need to get younger, find a true center, and retain Reaves. Couple that with Rui Hachimura’s impending free agency (Hachimura is four years younger than Smart), and it just doesn’t seem realistic to think Smart will be wearing Purple and Gold next season.

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